The present invention is generally related to the belt sander arts and, in particular, to a novel system and method for efficiently converting a hand-held belt sander into a walk-behind unit.
Hand-held belt sanders are used to sand rough edges on wood flooring products such as plywood or strand board. For flooring operations, the workman must operate on hands and knees in close proximity to the dust created by the sanding operation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to convert a conventional hand-held sander to a walk-behind unit by the addition of a unique extension handle and ballast system.
It is a further object of the invention to demonstrate a conversion system wherein an extended handle may be easily attached to or detached from a conventional belt sander.
It is an object of the invention to set forth a unique ballast or weight system which is variable depending upon the particular light or heavy sanding job required. The ballast system also enables the light weight hand-held unit to be converted to an efficient walk-behind unit.
It is still further object of the invention to show an extension handle which may be economically mass-produced for widespread commercial appeal.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of skill in the art from the description which follows.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,081 teaches the use of a removable short auxiliary handle 20 to improve efficiency for some hand-held operations. It does not provide for a walk-behind unit nor include the ballast or weight system of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,570 teaches the use of a short detachable handle 21 for use with a power tool such as a sander. The patent does not teach the elongated handle, stabilizing bars or the ballast system of the present invention to enable conversion of a hand-held sander to a walk-behind unit.
The present invention is thus believed to be clearly patentable over all known prior art systems.
A dual handle system of approximately four to five feet in length is attached to the front end of a conventional belt sander.
The dual handles include lower angled attaching ends and upper angled handle means.
A variable weight or ballast is attached to the handles in a position over the belt sander to achieve variable sanding pressure depending upon the particular sanding work being undertaken.
A remote switch element is placed on an upper end of one of the handles to enable activation of the belt sander power switch.
Stabilizing bars are placed between the handle elements to secure the handles and the overall unit.